


Teacups and Promises

by inspiron (skam2607)



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Discussion of the Fall, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e13 The Wrath of the Lamb, Post-Fall (Hannibal)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 12:30:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16640132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skam2607/pseuds/inspiron
Summary: Will wakes after the fall to find himself in the similar situation as the day he stopped chasing Hannibal and Hannibal surrendered. Now, fate has given him another chance to reverse time and gather the broken teacup again. Will decides.





	Teacups and Promises

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I am very new to the fandom and this is my first fic ever here. After binge-watching the series I just couldn't stop thinking about it and this came out of it. Hope you like it.   
> Let's pray for the new season that it comes soon.  
> This is just my version of things and I am not at all claiming it to be canon.  
> I do not own any character. it is just for entertainment purposes.

This was not his first free fall into a body of water and this was also not going to be his last if he manages to survive it. Having spent most of his adolescent years on a boat, Will have done a significant amount of free falling into the water but this was the first where he intended to not come alive to the surface. He wanted to go- to wherever it was possible to go- to heaven or to hell or to just simply stop existing. See, he had fought hard and then in the end he lost. He lost to the part of him that was so much desired by Hannibal, the part which felt the same thrill that Hannibal felt- with the same appetite and design. A part not concerned with the human-made standards of evil and good and moral and immoral; the part that wanted to embrace its nature entirely and get consumed by it in the end.

 

Adapt. Evolve. Become.

 

There was nothing on his mind in those few seconds before their embracing bodies broke the surface of the water and plunged in the depth. There was no regret, no panic, no worries and no what-if. A sense of relief and the feeling of wind which was soothing on his blood stained cheeks and like a sharp knife to his open wounds at the same time. It soothed and ached at the same time just like his feelings for Hannibal.

 

Hannibal didn’t say anything. Will didn’t feel any resistance or shock or panic in his form. He held onto Will’s body just as before and seconds before their fall, Will felt Hannibal cradling his head into his chest securely and turning them around so it was Hannibal who hit the water first.

 

Then nothing happened. Just the ocean and its violent waves rushing to destroy their bodies and Will let go.

 

He had let that part of him win. He had let it live, thrive even if it was for these few seconds. It breathed and it danced and it sang and lived a lifetime in these moments and it bound itself to Hannibal’s soul and it said- “See.’’

 

And Will saw then. He saw himself and he saw Hannibal. One and the same. He and him. Them.

 

‘I forgive you.’ It said or was it Hannibal? Will didn’t know. Will thought that perhaps he smiled at the benevolence of the forgiveness to show his gratitude or was it also just his imagination?

 

***

 

“I forgive you.”

 

Will opened his eyes and his eyes were onslaught by a piercing white light. It took him the next few seconds to adjust the room. It was a sparsely decorated room with only the necessities and nothing of the ostentation. He found himself lying on a double bed with gray bedding and a same coloured comforter wrapped around him. There was one console in one of the corners with nothing on top of it and nothing on the walls either. Among all the bareness was Hannibal, sleeping on one red coloured chair which clearly didn’t belong there and was most probably brought here just for him to sit or sleep in this moment.

 

There were a just few bruises on Hannibal’s faces that looked still raw and nasty and he had his upper lip cut on the left side but he still looked tired and somewhat small to will. The grandeur of his presence that is too difficult to ignore was missing in his sleeping form. He looked a man tired from a hard day who couldn’t even bother to find a bed.

 

Will struggled to sit up and it was then that he noticed a transparent tube hooked into his arm and then he noticed all the machines and medical equipment. It was a makeshift hospital room and the décor matched any generic hospital room, Will mused as he gingerly moved to sit with his back to the headboard. He winced at shooting pain in his shoulder and he removed the covers to see it wrapped in bandages with angry red skin around. It was the mark of the Great Red Dragon. Will then took a look at the rest of his body and it looked same to him except for a few bruises that looked nastier then they actually felt. A bandage was on his face too and for a second Will worried about the scar it was going to leave but then another thought came to his mind reminding him instantly that he was never vain and probably he shouldn’t start now. It was also possible that this scar might give something to ponder over to people who may think of him as a weak and meek pray.

 

Hannibal was still sleeping with his head leaning to one side and a notebook in his lap. This reminded Will of one another day some years back when he woke up to find Hannibal by his bad, in a chair, with a notebook in his lap. He had rejected Hannibal then and Hannibal then surrendered to Jack. What a great thing that turned out to be. He wondered whether Hannibal will acknowledge it. What made this man still wait for Will?

 

Will knew he was not going to reject Hannibal again. It was a fact and he has known it before he even opened his eyes and there was no struggle inside his soul now. There was acceptance and a sense of relief due to the aforementioned acceptance. The erstwhile small part was bigger than ever and it stood proudly unburdened by the baggage of guilt and free from the shackles of morality and society and law.

 

‘Hannibal.’

 

Will called for the second half of his being who from this day onwards will be an equal partner in whatever may come their way. Hannibal woke up immediately and looked at Will. Will saw a glimpse of relief on his face which quickly melted away to give way for the pretense of aloofness. It was easy for him to read Hannibal now. Will felt a wave of excitement run through his veins and charge his blood.

 

‘Hello, Will.’

 

‘Are we in heaven?’ Will asked and Hannibal smiled- a little honest smile playing on his lips and then decided to stay there.

 

‘Well, if we take into considerations all the requirements set by God to be eligible for entry into heaven then I am sure we are not in heaven.’ Hannibal replied, the smile on his face transforming into a playful smirk.

 

‘And if we don’t take them into consideration then what?’ Will pressed further playing along.

 

‘You are alive, looking well and in front of my eyes. We are safe from Uncle Jack and the FBI. I’d say we are in a version of heaven, right here on earth.’

 

Will smiled through the dull pain in his cheek and he turned his head upwards to look at the equally bare ceiling as the rest of the room. He took a deep breath then and let his body sag.

 

‘How did we survive?’ Will asked and looked at Hannibal who shifted slightly to sit a bit straighter. Hannibal put his palm on his knee and smoothed the fabric.

 

‘You didn’t mean for us to survive.’ Hannibal stated in a neutral tone that betrayed nothing but was still a bait, Will knew that. It was Hannibal wanting to know what led Will to take a dive in the Atlantic.

 

‘I didn’t mean for anything.’ Will replied which made Hannibal raise his brow in interest. ‘It was a declaration.’

 

‘Declaration?’

 

‘To God or fate or the universe or time- whatever it is that pulls the strings.’ Will rubbed his palm over his face carefully navigating around the bandages on his cheek. Hannibal continued looking at him.

 

‘And what did you want to convey to them?’ He asked when Will didn’t seem to elaborate.

 

‘That do whatever you need to do but if I survive then I am abandoning this version of my being.’ It was an ultimate but Will realized how ridiculous and insane it will sound out loud. He glanced at Hannibal who looked pleased with his lips curved in a hint of smile and his eyes crinkling around the corners very subtly but Will saw it clear as the day. Now, it was a declaration to Hannibal; an acceptance of his proposal made to Will years ago and he seemed to understand it. He acknowledged it with a smile now and Will smiled back.

 

‘Chiyoh helped me.’ Hannibal told him then which made Will surprised because he didn’t think she’d still be here after Hannibal’s incarceration. ‘She was there with us but was hidden from the sight. She helped me get you out of the water and then to this safe place and later in my surgery.’

 

‘How bad was it?’ Will asked suddenly reminded that Hannibal actually got shot.

 

‘The wound was clean but the bullet nicked the intestine. It was tended before it could get septic and Chiyoh has knowledge of surgery so there is nothing to worry about.’

 

‘Well, you look even better than me. How do you look better than me?’ Will asked incredulously and Hannibal looked amused but refused to comment on it. Will schooled his expressions before it looked as if he was sulking on this ridiculous thing. He sighed loudly as he adjusted his position to sit comfortably. Hannibal looked as he was contemplating about something. Will gave him time and resumed looking at the ceiling.

 

‘Do we talk about teacups and time and rules of disorder?’ Hannibal said after a few moments in the future but Will found himself transported back in time to his house in Wolf Trap. Hannibal looked at him to say that he was there with him, sharing the experience again and Will saw something of raw vulnerability on his face. Will found himself yearning to reach and take Hannibal’s hand in his own to soothe the hurt. He opened up his heart instead and let Hannibal look at jagged, bloody thing and let Hannibal see his answer.

 

‘Are you going to reject me again, Will?’ Hannibal asked. Will realized that how much pain they have given to each other that verbal reassurances are needed like the characters in generic romance novels. The teacup has gathered itself back again as he found himself back in time and Will was ready to do things the way they should’ve been. He didn’t know if it was wrong then or now; he didn’t know what sane or insane thinking led him to make that decision in the same room; he didn’t know if he saved himself then or was finally being saved now. He didn’t know. He didn’t want to know because what he was going to do now was right- this he knew.

 

‘I don’t think I can or want to.’ He replied and Hannibal now looked unaffected because Will knew his own face showcased all he was feeling- hurt and comfort, apology and forgiveness. It was unfair because Will was finally ready to bare himself in front of the man who somehow became his hurt and comfort at without Will even realizing. He wanted to see his emotions reflected back on Hannibal’s face. He wanted Hannibal to become a mirror and not a wall.

 

But the wall remained and the bricks and stone refused to shed. Everything echoed and loud enough in the silent room that Will for a moment became afraid- of the feelings so knowingly repressed that they now wanted to wreak havoc. For a moment Will wondered if Hannibal knew this and that’s why he had erected a wall. If it was true then it was smart of him but it made Will lonely nonetheless.

 

He waited for a response. Response came in form of a soft sigh of relief and a hint of smoothness of the expressions.

 

‘You don’t believe me?’ Will asked.

 

‘After everything that we have managed to done to each other I think belief or trust are hard to get. They have become rarest of the commodities.’ Hannibal replied in a tone bare of anything that could guide Will in formulating appropriate response.

 

‘I believe that we’ve gotten a chance to gather the teacup together again.’

 

Hannibal stayed silent and contemplative. Will mirrored him and let his shoulders sag to convey that he was ready and will wait patiently.

 

‘And what of your family, Will?’ Hannibal asked with something not dissimilar to hurt in his voice. And it frustrated Will because he knew the intent behind this question. After accepting in clear words and implication Hannibal still believed that Will might have any inclination to go back and it frustrated him that it will take probably a significant amount of time to get to a place where there won’t be any need for things to supplement their words and promises to each other.

 

‘They deserve something better…something that is not me and everything that comes with me.’

 

‘And what is that _you_ deserve?’ Hannibal asked.

 

‘You know perfectly clear what I deserve and it’s not them. You were right.’ Will accepted.

 

Hannibal smiled then- something beautiful tinged with a raw feeling of hope and hurt and love and whatever that he and Will were capable of feeling. He let Will see him then and became Will’s mirror. He didn’t move to get up rather he slid down in the chair just a bit and his posture became calm and relaxed. The smiled stayed on his face even after his eyes couldn’t keep contact with Will’s. Will, though allowed himself to see Hannibal. It was a rare experience to see Hannibal so bashful and unable to hold eye contact and Will smiled when Hannibal slightly raised his eyes again towards him.

 

‘What next then?’ He asked Will.

 

‘I think we should pay a visit to a dear friend of ours. Don’t you think?’ Will replied and Hannibal smiled knowingly. His countenance changing from the adorable bashfulness to that of a predator who just got the smell of his prey.

 

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading and please leave kudos and comments. :)


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